# Agency, freelancer or in-house for Google Ads: how to choose

> Three cost structures for managing Google Ads, with real market figures. What to get every month, which warning signs to watch for, and how to test any…

URL: https://thenichesociety.ro/en/blog-agentie-google-ads-vs-freelancer-vs-intern

There’s no universal answer to “agency, freelancer or in-house” — it depends on the size of the budget, the complexity of the account and how much time you can dedicate to management yourself. **The cost structure matters less than what you get every month in exchange for it: active conversion tracking, a negative keyword list maintained constantly, and full access to your own account.** Whichever option you choose is worth testing for thirty days, with clear criteria, before a longer commitment.

## The three ways to manage Google Ads — and why none of them is universally “right”

A small business has, in practice, three options for managing a [Google Ads campaign](https://thenichesociety.ro/en/google-ads): a specialised agency, an independent freelancer, or an in-house employee, dedicated partly or fully to this activity. Each option has a different cost structure, a different level of availability, and implies a different level of control on your part. There's no fixed hierarchy — an agency isn't automatically "better" than a freelancer, and an in-house employee isn't automatically cheaper than either, if you calculate their time correctly.

The right decision depends on three things, in this order: how large and complex the ad budget is, how much time you can personally dedicate to overseeing the account, and how predictable the monthly cost needs to be for your business. The rest of the article breaks down each variable, with real figures from public sources, not assumptions.

## How the cost of management is actually calculated: flat fee, percentage of budget or hybrid

Most agencies and freelancers in the PPC (pay-per-click advertising) market work on one of two basic models, or a combination of both. The first is the flat monthly fee — a fixed amount, regardless of how much the ad budget fluctuates. The second is the percentage of budget — the manager receives a fixed percentage of the amount actually spent on ads. Hybrid models also exist, with a base fee plus a percentage above a threshold.

Public figures from the Western market, where richer aggregated data is available, offer a useful benchmark: flat fees typically range between $1,500 and $10,000 a month, and the percentage model starts at around 15% of the budget and can go up to 30%, depending on account size, according to a HawkSEM pricing guide. The same logic holds at a smaller scale, in RON: the smaller the account, the higher the percentage tends to be, because the baseline work doesn't shrink in proportion to the budget.

| Pricing model | How it works | Main risk |
|---|---|---|
| Flat monthly fee | A fixed amount, regardless of the budget spent | Disproportionate for a small or complex account |
| Percentage of budget | Percentage of the amount spent on ads | Encourages budget growth, not necessarily results |
| Hybrid | Base fee, plus a percentage above a threshold | Harder to compare between providers |

## What a viable minimum budget actually means

Before choosing who manages the account, work out whether your ad budget is large enough to justify paid management. Under the percentage model, a small budget produces a small fee in absolute terms — but the actual work required (structure, negative keywords, tracking, reporting) doesn't shrink proportionally. That's why many agencies charge a minimum monthly fee regardless of budget: below a certain threshold, the baseline work costs more than the percentage calculation would produce.

A “minimum viable” budget isn't a universal figure — it's the point where the ad budget, plus the cost of management, stays lower than the value the campaign can realistically bring your business in a month. If that calculation doesn't yet work in your favour, the answer isn't “give up on Google Ads”, but “don't pay for external management yet” — you can learn the basic structure yourself, on a small budget, and bring in paid management only once the volume justifies it.

## What you should get every month, regardless of who manages the account

The pricing structure matters less than what exactly you get, concretely, every month. Four things should be in place, regardless of whether the manager is an agency, a freelancer or a colleague from the company, hired specifically for this.

- 01**Clear account structure, built around intent groups** each ad group answers one specific need, instead of everything being mixed into a single generic campaign.
- 02**A negative keyword list, updated constantly** the starting list isn't enough — it needs monthly additions, based on the actual search terms report.
- 03**Active, verified conversion tracking** conversions need to be set up correctly as primary or secondary actions; without them, Google Ads can't optimise towards real results, according to the official documentation.
- 04**Monthly report with real figures, not just clicks and impressions** a useful report shows cost per lead or per conversion — traffic volume alone doesn't tell you whether the money brought any result.

## Warning signs that management isn’t being done properly

Some problems are hard to spot without technical experience, but a few signs are clear enough that anyone can check them, even without advanced Google Ads knowledge.

- 01**No active conversion tracking** if no one can show you how many calls or form submissions the campaign generated, the cost figures are just cost-per-click relabelled.
- 02**Every keyword on broad match, with no Smart Bidding** broad match intentionally widens the range of searches it shows for, and Google explicitly recommends using it together with Smart Bidding.
- 03**You don't have your own access to the account** if you can't log in any time to see the account, at least in read-only mode, something isn't right.
- 04**Result figures promised before any real data** a cost per lead promised from the first month, with no history on your account, is a guess dressed up as a certainty.

## Why the Google Ads account needs to be yours, not the agency's

Google Ads offers five levels of account access — from “email only” (notifications, no access) up to “admin”, who can manage users and link other accounts. The difference matters enormously in a relationship with an agency or freelancer: if you're the admin of your own account, you can grant and revoke access at any time; if the external manager holds the admin role, you depend on them for any change, including replacing them.

Serious agencies manage client accounts through a manager account (MCC) — a structure that lets them run multiple accounts from one place, without automatically taking full control of every linked account. Google Ads documentation is explicit: linking a manager account doesn't automatically make it the administrative owner, and you can end the link at any time, by unlinking it. If an agency insists on creating the account itself, under its own details, instead of linking to yours through a manager account, that's reason to ask questions before signing.

## When it makes sense to bring Google Ads management in-house, onto your team

Bringing management in-house makes the most sense when the ad budget is large enough to justify a dedicated, or partly dedicated, salary. In Romania, 80% of PPC specialists take home a net monthly salary of roughly 4,986 to 9,336 lei, and with more than five years of experience the average gross climbs to around 7,787 lei, according to Paylab data. Compared with an external fee of a few hundred or a few thousand lei a month, hiring in-house only becomes worthwhile past a certain level of budget — below that threshold, the fixed cost of a salary outweighs the cost of external management, paid in proportion to the actual work.

Capacity matters too: an in-house specialist reacts faster to changes in their own account, because they aren't splitting their time with other clients, but they need training time if they don't already come with direct experience. For many small businesses, the real answer isn't a one-off choice but a sequence: external management at the start, transitioning to an in-house position only once the workload justifies it economically.

## A 30-day testing framework, whoever you choose

Whatever you choose — agency, freelancer or in-house management — the first thirty days should be treated as a test with clear criteria, not a long-term commitment taken on blind faith. A first month of a Google Ads campaign is, in any case, meant to gather clean data on what works, not to immediately maximise the volume of customers — the principle holds no matter who's pressing the buttons.

- 01Day 1: confirm that conversion tracking is active and tested — a test call or form submission, verified to show up correctly in the account.
- 02Week two: ask for a first look at the account structure and the negative keyword list — it should already exist, not “done gradually”.
- 03Day 30: ask for a report with real cost per lead, not just clicks and impressions, and compare it with what you can afford from your own margin.

## Sources and further reading.

- 01[Google Ads Help — About access levels in a Google Ads account](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9978556)
- 02[Google Ads Help — About Google Ads manager accounts](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6139186)
- 03[Google Ads Help — Guide to broad match](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/12159290)
- 04[Google Ads Help — About conversion tracking](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1722022)
- 05[HawkSEM — How Much Does PPC Management Cost](https://hawksem.com/blog/ppc-management-price/)
- 06[Paylab — PPC Specialist Salary, Romania](https://www.paylab.ro/informatii-calculator-salarii/marketing-publicitate-pr/specialist-ppc)

## Frequently asked questions

### What's cheaper: agency, freelancer or in-house specialist for Google Ads?

It depends on the size of the budget. At small budgets, freelancers or minimum agency fees are usually cheaper than an in-house salary; at large budgets, an in-house specialist can become more cost-effective, because the fixed salary no longer grows with the budget, unlike a percentage-based fee.

### How much should managing a Google Ads account cost?

In markets with abundant public data, flat fees range between roughly $1,500 and $10,000 a month, and the percentage model starts at around 15% of the ad budget. The right figure for you depends on the size of the budget and the complexity of the account, not a universal benchmark.

### Why do I need to own the Google Ads account, not the agency that manages it?

Because the access level determines who actually controls the account. If the external manager owns the account, you depend on them to switch providers or regain control. A serious agency links your account through a manager account, without automatically taking ownership of it.

### When is it worth hiring an in-house Google Ads specialist instead of an agency?

When the ad budget and account complexity are large enough to justify a dedicated salary — below that threshold, the fixed cost of an employee usually outweighs the cost of external management paid in proportion to the actual work.

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